This year, the theme of International Youth Day is Youth Building Peace. Our thought and value systems, which are built on the education we receive, form the basis of our involvement in society. As we consider the role young people can play in bringing about peace, let us take time to reflect on the teachings which prompt our youth to build a peaceful society.

TORONTO, Wednesday, July 19, 2017 - The Canadian Bible Society is pleased to announce that Dr. William Brackney, Chair of the Board of Governors, has been appointed to the Pioneer MacDonald Chair of Baptist Theology and Ethics at Carey Theological College.

In celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday, the Canadian Bible Society staff recently held a contest to find out how the Bible helped shape Canada as a nation.

God's Word played an important role in the founding of our nation, and you will see clues in our history, some engraved forever in special spots across the country. The staff contest yielded a lot of interesting facts, some of which are featured below.

TC (Tommy) Douglas was voted the Greatest Canadian of all time in 2004 by the viewers of CBC television. He was born in 1904 in Camelon, Falkirk, Scotland. At the age of six, TC immigrated to Canada with his family and settled in Winnipeg. Shortly before leaving Scotland, he had fallen and injured his right knee. Osteomyelitis had set in requiring numerous surgeries to try and correct the condition. Unfortunately, it flared up again in Winnipeg.

As the oh-so-famous lyrics from Disney’s Aladdin, “A Whole New World”, go:

“A whole new world
With new horizons to pursueI'll chase them anywhere
There’s time to spare
Let me share this whole new world with you.
A whole new world
That's where we'll be
A thrilling chase
A wondrous placeFor you and me.”

In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson officially established the second Sunday of May as Mother’s Day in the United States, declaring that mothers are a nation’s greatest source of strength and inspiration.

True to tradition, Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan had a harem, but among his four queens, Mumtaz Mahal was the one he loved most. Everyone loved her on account of her beauty and her personality; people praised her especially for her elegance, grace, humility and great compassion. Queen Mumtaz was the favourite, the one who had the greater worth in the eyes of the emperor, and the one he trusted the most. When she died, in 1631, the emperor could not be comforted. So he decided to build her a tomb, the magnificence of which would parallel the depth of his love.

Calgary businessman Jason Caldwell credits his faith “in the God of the Holy Bible” with giving him the peace he needed following the tragic death of his 17-year-old twin sons in an after-hours accident at Canada Olympic Park in February 2016.

Speaking at the Calgary Leadership Prayer Breakfast in late October, Caldwell recounted how a number of youths at Rocky Mountain Calvary Chapel let their “zest for life and adventure” get the better of them.

Meeting at a restaurant after youth group, the teenagers decided to trespass the grounds in the middle of the night and take their toboggans down the steep, icy run built for the luge and bobsled races at 1988 Winter Olympics. What they didn’t realize is that further down, the track had been barricaded and chained off.